Tag: CWT

We would like to introduce our today’s guest Amber Bourke, ex-World Champion, and multi-time Australian National record holder!

Amber, thank you for finding time to reply some of our questions.

1. Amber, I know that you were a professional synchronized swimmer and even represent Australia at FINA World Championship in 2007. How you ended up in Freediving?

I actually injured my hip which kind or ended my synchro days. I tried out for the 2008 Olympics but missed out on a spot on the team and after that decided that it was time to move on.

2. You achieved a lot both in swimming and now in Freediving. Can you compare training approach in both sports?

Training is actually very similar. I definitely trained much longer hours as a synchronized swimmer but with freediving I believe it’s more about quality over quantity.

3. Our huge congratulations on your great performance this year in CNF. Are you concentrating mainly on this discipline in your depth training?

I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for CNF. I’m not sure why because breaststroke has always been my worst stroke. I think at the moment though I’m mostly focusing on it because my equalization is terrible and I haven’t been able to equalize deep enough to do decent CWT or FIM dives.

4. In 2015 you did 48 meters, 2016 – 58, 2017 – 68 (which is the new National Record!!!). Looks like you like number “8”. So, what to expect from you in 2018? 78 meters?

I actually didn’t realize that until you pointed it out. I really have to work on being less predictable! I think a lot of us freedivers subconsciously steer towards certain numbers. I don’t think of myself as a superstitious person but maybe I am! The number 8 just sounds so much better than 7 or 9…

5. What is a typical daily training routine for you? What kind of short/long term goals do you have now?

Up until this year, I’ve been working full time around training so I usually train in the pool 3-4 times after work during the week and then try to squeeze maybe some gym or yoga in during the week too. Then it is a matter of arriving at a destination with enough time before the competition to let your body adapt to the pressure and work on equalization. This year I took a gap year from work to travel and focus on freediving so that makes things a lot easier.

6. You also doing very well in a pool disciplines, actually you are 2017 Pool National Female Champion! So, what do you like to train more, pool or depth?

If it’s a choice between being in the ocean or being in a swimming pool every day I will always choose the ocean. However, I do enjoy training in the pool and sometimes it’s just more practical. In Brisbane where I live we don’t have easy access to depth like a lot of freedivers.

7. I saw a video on the YouTube (I think it is 2014), where you do DNF with no packing. Are you changed your approach since then or you still don’t pack?

I still don’t pack. Maybe one day I will but I always wanted to see how far I could get without packing and show new freedivers that there is a lot more you can learn to improve your freediving before you start packing.

8. Last year we all saw your amazing photo session with Ben Von Wong. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

The Von Wong shoot was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I’ve had in freediving. We were in these underwater caverns with sharks and I was wearing this crazy dress that was almost impossible to swim in. On top that the water wasn’t that warm and I was relying on a scuba diver for air. It was not easy but I’ve always enjoyed a challenge. I’d really like to participate in more of these projects in the future.

9. Freediving becoming more popular nowadays. What is your opinion about freediving development in the future?

I hope it becomes as popular if not more popular than scuba diving. The more people who freedive the easier it will be to find people to freedive with! I also hope that as freediving becomes more popular people will become more aware of the risks involved with holding your breath underwater and what to do in case of a hypoxic or shallow water blackout.

10. And at the end, what advice can you give to someone who just finished their first freediving course?

Find people to train with. The main reason I’ve stayed in the sport for so long is that I have a great group of people back home that I train with and that keeps me looking forward to training each week.

Our congratulations for you to become Freediving National Record holder for Germany in CWT on VB-2107! Thank you for finding some time to answer our questions and sharing your love for Freediving!

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself (where you was born and grew up, at what age you started swimming, what hobby you had before start freediving)

I am half German, half American. I grew up in Germany (south west part) close to Stuttgart, studied in Konstanz at Germany’s biggest and deepest lake (256m) and learned freediving there. Swimming I started early at around 5-6 years. I always liked to be in the water, although I didn’t join any swimming club or so. During school and university, my biggest hobby was not sport related but more music related. I was fascinated by going to concerts and music festivals. I also have been working until today in the concert business as a booking manager for part time.

2. Do you remember when and how you tried Freediving for the first time? And why did you like it?

I joined a beginner course in the lake of Konstanz. I could hold my breath 3 minutes and go to 20m and I realized fast how challenging this sport is, which I liked. I had lots of trouble with equalization though and I was not able to dive head first. As soon as I learned how to Frenzel, things got more serious. I had my first competition also in the lake and soon went for more and more competitions.

3. How did you come up with the idea to become a Freediving instructor? How did you manage to arrange your time between teaching and competing on such a high level?

It was basically important for me to become an instructor to learn more about teaching. I found it interesting and I hoped to gain life experience from teaching and responsibility you have as an instructor in the water. At the same time, I realized that through teaching you can also learn a lot since you start reading more about freediving (due to students questions which you fail to answer) and on the other hand building your own teaching style. Of course, teaching and competing at the same time is hard, but it can be also a nice balance. After a few days of teaching, you really like to go deep again. And motivation is so important for deep diving. My best pre training + competition was actually my first national record with 91m free immersion. And exactly during that period, I had lots of courses. I used the day offs for training and each and every dive was nice, clean and a relaxed dive. 80m, 82m, 84m, 86m, 88m and then finally 91m.

4. Once again congratulations with NR for Germany (CWT 93 meters)! Are you looking forward to reaching magic 100 meters mark any soon? 😉 If yes, what it will mean for you?

Of course, 100m is a nice number, but for me, it is also more important to be good in the other disciplines and do nice dives. If I can reach a 100m one time just by having a good run, it will not be worth it. I would like to hit a 100m and claim that I can do it again. But for this, my body and my mind need to be ready enough. At the moment it is not and that is important to know to remain on a healthy road towards success.

5. On VB-2017 you made an attempt of 67 CNF. What happened during this dive? Why did you decide to make an early turn? Are you looking for becoming NR in this discipline as well in the future?

I had argued with board colleagues from AIDA Germany which did not let me dive in peace. At the board, there is somebody who really tries to work against me and such battles are not a good place for a freedivers mind. But yes, I plan to dive deeper in CNF. I personally think that there I have great potentials since hypoxia is no topic for me and my technique looks okay. Actually, I just broke the NR with 67m a few days ago in a competition in Panglao, Philippines.

6. Coming back to training, are you splitting equally your time between different disciplines? Any pool or strength training?

I like to switch between the disciplines. All disciplines have their pros and cons. FIM is relaxed and easy to equalize deep. Descend is the easiest for me. On the other hand, you need good apnea and a strong mind since you are deep and you only have the rope to get up. CWT is fast, you enjoy the speed and the power behind the monofin. On the other side, you need a good technique to not become lactic and to be able to keep the relaxation which is needed for deep equalization. CNF is physically hard and the detail is most important. On the other hand, it is not so deep and the numbers seem to be more double for the mind.

If I am in the water for training, I try to avoid work out. Nevertheless, I see work out also as an important part to remain strong. Especially when you are already getting skinny you can’t effort to lose the power you need for freediving. If I have a few days or weeks off from freediving, I like to train in the gym or at home to build up strength. Pool training is nice for technique and mental training.

7. I saw that you started crowd funding campaign to go to Freediving World Championship 2017. Wish you to reach this goal and hope our readers decide to support you! Can you say a couple of words why this is so important for you? (interview was taken a month ago, so Tim already manages to get enough money to go!!!)

That is easy: Because it is very expensive to go there this year, especially when you are coming from Europe and also if you already attended Vertical Blue in that year. I do not have the money to go or if I would need to work and have no time for training. The announcement that the World Championship will take place in Roatan came quite late this time. So I decided to register for Vertical Blue and see if I can finance Roatan somehow. I saw that other athlete already successfully funded themselves with crowd funding. On one hand I know it might not be so nice to ask for money, but on the other hand, I believe that those who support me really like to do that. I always feel happy to give support if I can and I want.

8. Did freediving become more popular in Germany since you have started practicing it?

I don’t know. I worked for a bit more than a year at the board at AIDA Germany, but the problem is that it is led mainly by bureaucrats who have no idea about freediving. Germany is, for example, the only country who still has lake records and it is also recognizing No Limit records. Media will not distinguish between a 100m No Limit and a 100m Constant Weight or a 130m DNF World Record (in the lake) or a real world record of 244m. What Germany needs is stories and a nice representation of the sport. Many people still believe that it is an extreme sport for adrenaline freaks. Some people take the advantage and sell themselves as such ones and simply misrepresent the sport. But there are also others who are invited into talk shows and give very nice examples for how nice freediving can be. I hope that especially competitive freediving can be more established.

9. Tell us about your personal Freediving plans and how you see freediving in the future in general?

I plan to take part in Honduras at the AIDA World Championship. I hope I can hit new PBs there and I am also looking forward to this competition in general. Freediving becomes more and more popular for sure. With this, the freediving world faces a difficult task, which is making/keeping competitions safe and professional. At the last two World Championships of AIDA, there were huge and embarrassing mistakes happening, which in my personal opinion also happened due to arrogance by the judges and not listening to the athletes. I hope that those mistakes will not happen again and that the administration at AIDA will start working properly again.

We would like to introduce our today’s guest Adam Stern. Multiple Australian national record holder, rising star in Freediving with recent achievements of 100 meters (CWT)!

Adam, thank you for finding time to reply some of our questions.

1. I know that you started your Freediving (at least officially) during your time on Koh Tao, Thailand. What was the most difficult part of the first course? And why you signed up for the next level?

I was just backpacking around Asia and I was on Koh Tao, Thailand at that time, doing my PADI Advanced Open Water course. And once I saw a freediving center – Apnea Total and thought that it was cool and took a course and kept training with them.

I remember I did my first dive to 20 meters and it was easy and I did another one and it was a little bit more challenging and I did another one and I was cold and tired and I remember on the last dive I had a lot of contractions but in the Apnea Total course we weren’t taught what contractions were so I was very surprised at the horrible feeling.

2. Do you remember the moment when you realized that freediving is not only a hobby for a few weeks but something more important?

It happened when I was training in Roatan and one day reached 70 meters deep. I was just training for fun and it was all going well. When I reached that depth I was thinking wow I’m getting better in this, might be I should see what happen if I take it more seriously. After that, I came home and started training more seriously in a pool and then went to Dahab and started depth training there.

3. You are well known for your competition performance (Vertical Blue 2016 and Blue Element 2016 is just to name a few of them). But do you remember your first competition? Now, when you get more experience with it, is it easier to manage stress during competition? If it is not a big secret, what are your future plans as a competitive Freediver?

It was a mini comp in Dahab in 2013. I announced a dive 15 meters shallower than my PB just to have a nice competition experience. In my first few competitions I was quite nervous but now it doesn’t stress me at all and I’m definitely enjoying competing more and more the more I do it.

My future plan is always just to get deeper and deeper! 🙂 My target in freediving is always to progress, always to hit PB depths. I will do that for as long as I am enjoying training and competing in freediving. I could say things like Oh, I would like a world record! And I would love nothing more than a world record. But I find that large and far away goals are not that effective as having many small, short-term goals. So the goal for me is always simply a PB. Every single time I train or I do training cycle I want to PB.

4. To be able to compete on the highest level you obviously need to be in a great shape. How do you manage to combine teaching and training?

I am the competitive diver and my focus was and always will be on my own training and competitions. So, I have to structure my business around that. Basically what I do is dedicate a period of time to teaching and a period of time where I’m not teaching at all, just training.

My training schedule is quite complex and depends on which phase of training I am in. I break my training at base training and depth training.

My base training is training in the gym 5 days a week. I train CrossFit which is high-intensity interval training. I also train three days a week in a pool mostly doing dynamic tables. I mostly do hypoxic tables which are actually CO2 tables to the point of hypoxia. This base training period makes up about 2 thirds of my training cycle.

Then I go to a location to start diving deep. The frequency of my dives depends on how deep I’m diving. When I am above 80 meters it’s three days and one day off, between 80 and 95 – two days and one day off. And then any deeper than that it’s one day and one day off. My training in structured and I almost never cancel dives or leave it up to how I feel in the morning. I like to just get up and get it done.

Obviously, if I am tired and I need a rest, then I rest. But besides this, I don’t give my mood any power over me. If my body feels good and it’s time to go to dive or time to go to the gym or to the pool – I go. There was countless time where I’ve had no desire to train but I make myself train.

5. And why did you decide to start teaching freediving at the first place? Why PADI? What is your favorite PADI Freediving course to teach?

In the beginning, I was not really interested in becoming an instructor. I just wanted to make some cash while leaving in Dahab at the time. And then I realized that I really enjoy teaching, I fell in love with it and still love teaching. When PADI launched their freediving program I knew they had the biggest market potential and the largest reach. They had the largest potential to actually expand the freediving industry more than any other company that have ever been involved in freediving. So, I stepped in to be involved in this expansion, to be in a front line, and to help growing freediving as a sport and as an adventure activity.

My favorite course to teach is the instructor course. It is the most intensive and interesting course to teach. And I can work very closely with divers who are diving at a high level.

6. In your opinion – what are the main qualities which freediving instructor should have?

Someone who has expert knowledge in Freediving, who has expert skills in freediving, and very high-level teaching skills. Every instructor is different and teaches in their own way. Every instructor’s style may work or may not work with different students so there is no such thing as the perfect instructor.

7. What do you think, who can apply for PADI Freediver course (level of fitness or age)? Is it a course for everyone or you should be somehow prepared for it?

Anyone can apply and join PADI freediving course! Obviously, you need a reasonable level of fitness, let’s say you should be able to swim continually 200 meters or snorkeling 300 meters. If you can, you then you’re absolutely ready for the course. I believe everyone can do it. Obviously, if you have issues with your heart etc you should get checked my a doctor before you sign on for a course but apart from medical limitations, everyone can do it.

8. Now freediving slowly comes to be “in trend”, probably same like it was with yoga 10 years ago. More freediving centers, more students…What are the pros and cons of it?

The increase of freedivers and the growth of the freediving industry is fantastic. I love freediving soo much that I love to see more and more people doing it. The only issue with the freediving explosion is that there are some parts of the world where people are choosing not to take freediving courses which are so dangerous and in the end will only reflect badly on us all.

9. What is your opinion about freediving development in the future? What is the best way for it?

I would love to see it as big as a scuba diving. I think right now what is popular worldwide is all kinds of adventure sports, adventure activities, adventure travel. Freediving is all about adventure! People like to have a challenge. I see freediving constantly growing but what I want to see is the amateur sport of freediving became professional. A professional sport with paid athletes. It’s happening slowly. Now we have more divers than ever who can dive over 100m and the gap between the world’s elite professional divers and those aspiring to be is closing.

10. What could be your contribution, as a PADI Ambassador, in this process?

My goal as a PADI ambassador promotes freediving as much as possible, especially safe diving practices and promote PADI courses which I personally believe is the best and safest way to learn freediving.

11. And at the end, what advice can you give to someone who just finished their first freediving course?

Go and have some fun! Go deep snorkeling, go freediving in beautiful locations, explore the Ocean. You can just literally go anywhere and just check out what is beneath the surface! You don’t need any preparation, just go!

And when you’re ready to go for an advanced course! You’ll dive deeper, hold your breath longer, improve your knowledge of freediving safety and learn so so much more about your body, which is the most important.

The advice I would give to people getting into freediving as a sport. I would tell them, don’t take it too seriously! Have fun! If you are not having fun there is no point doing it anyway. Enjoy freediving. Enjoy the sensation of being in the water and have a wonderful, wonderful time. Never push yourself.

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1. Do you remember how and when did you find out about freediving? What made you start freediving? What were your 1st steps in this sport?

I was traveling through Egypt along the Red Sea doing a lot of SCUBA diving and some other travelers I had met had gone up to Dahab and dived this little spot called the Blue Hole, I had seen the photos and it looked amazing so decided to make my way there to go SCUBA dive it. Around the same time, one of my best mates from Australia, who was also, my SCUBA buddy had just learned to freedive and had been sending me a lot of emails trying to persuade me to do a course as he needed a buddy. Originally I had very little interest in it, I could barely reach the bottom of a 4m pool and just from playing in the pool with friends I knew I had a terrible breath hold

After having enough of being called a “tankerwanker” and “bubbleblower” I jumped onto google to see if this tiny town called Dahab had any instructors that could teach me anything about this obscure sport called freediving. Now my scuba gear sits collecting dust and out of service

2. What is your favorite discipline in freediving and which one you don’t like? And could you explain why?

I think it depends on which day you ask me, My CNF technique is terrible but I do enjoy the challenge when I do it and I find it fun. It is something I would really like to work more on this year when I get back to the water.

Also FIM I love the feeling of the water on my feet as I’m pulling through the water and the glide and you propel through the water especially coming back up

3. Tell please few words about your freediving training approach: How many times a week do you train? And do you have a fixed schedule or you just wake up in the morning, look into a mirror and depending on your mood, body condition or weather decide what to do today?

When I am training I do now try to follow a 3:1 dive days to rest day rotation with a longer 2-3 break every so often. There are training days where I wake up and feel I’m not in it physically or mentally. In the past, I have tried to push past these thinking that they were just barriers and I was just getting in my own head. So I would still go out and dive, I would not achieve anything I wanted and this just lead me to become frustrated and have a negative session and this would carry on to the following days. Now experience has shown me that I need to listen to my body and take a break and reset the mind.

But in regards to each training session I now pick one task I wasn’t to work on each session and not make it about a depth achievement. Be it my mouth fill, streamlining, relaxation. You get these things right then the depth happens naturally

4. And how often do you try something new in your freediving training?

As often as possible, I still consider myself a beginner in the scheme of things and I am always watching others see what works for them, picking people’s brains. Freediving is still a relatively new sport and each person has many different variations on what works for them. I think also part of being a great instructor is knowing and understanding the many different methods available and being able to adapt them to your students needs rather than just teaching what works for you. For this reason, even though I am an instructor I still seek out the guidance of others and looking to expand my own skill set

5. The next question – what makes you day after day to go to train in a pool/sea? What motivates you to train hard? How do you fight humans’ laziness?

My love for freediving is my motivation. I don’t train in the pool and that is simply because I don’t like it and I don’t find it fun. I freedive because I love the feeling when I’m in the ocean, not because I want to be the best. I have found this mindset has been important in my progress. There has been a time where I did make it about progress and the numbers and I started to come undone. I stopped enjoying the training, I stopped making progress. So when you enjoy something in that manner it is easy to get out of bed every day

6. Do you believe that some food products could influence the ability to equalize? Like gluten or lactose, for example, create more mucus which is not good for equalizing? Do you personally follow any diet?

I haven’t noticed a problem too much with my equalisation…yet. I do however notice that gluten and/or lactose do create extra mucus. I noticed this quite by accident when I inadvertently removed it from my diet whilst staying in Bali at their diet is very low in gluten and lactose and then was craving a pizza covered in cheese one night. It wasn’t something I was aware of prior to excluding it. So now I am more conscious of what I’m eating in the days leading up to dives

7. Let’s talk about money 🙂 Do you have any support from sports community of your country or may be some trade brand?

I think this is the dream of all competitive freedivers, currently like most divers I am completely self-funded. Last year I was told by my university that I would be ineligible to apply for a sports grant to compete at nationals because freediving was not considered a sport by the university, but apparently, Dragon Boat racing was

8. What about your targets in freediving? What would you like to achieve and how deep would you like to get?

It’s funny people always ask how deep do you want to go and how deep can you go. Whenever someone asks me about my depths I always try to avoid the question, especially on social media or if its someone I don’t know. Freediving has become a personal journey for me and I feel that the depths in no way reflect my path. Sure I share the depths with my friends and those I’m diving with, they are there on that journey with me. The depth isn’t about why I dive, it’s the enjoyment and the journey so I will keep diving as long as I keep enjoying it, who knows at what depth that enjoyment will stop.

9. What do you do except freediving? Do you have any hobbies?

Surfing has become my little side addiction, which is perfect for where I live in Perth, Australia. Means I can still get into the ocean fix and keep my fitness and strength up at the same time. Also, I’m not so great at it so my breath holds also get a run

10. What would you advise to people, who just discovered this sport?

Enjoy the moments not the numbers. I think also finding the right instructor or dive buddy for how you like to train is also important. Everybody trains and dives differently and what works for one person will not for the next. Find what works for you

1. Do you remember how and when did you find out about freediving? What made you to start freediving? What were your 1st steps in this sport?

I found out about freediving on Koh Tao, Thailand 8 years ago. I discovered Apnea Total, I think it was the first freediving school I had ever seen. When I saw videos I immediately signed up for the first two courses…and I wasn’t disappointed. I continued with the master course and even lost all my flights. I was freediving 3 months. When I came back to Spain to normal life I was so depressed of being out of water that when they offered me to come back to do the instructor course and stay for working in Thailand I couldn’t believe my luck. Freediving changed my life!

2. What is your favorite discipline in freediving and which one you don’t like? And could you explain why?

My favorite discipline is free immersion and CNF. Free Immersion, because it is slow and you can really feel changes of buoyancy when you are pulling yourself up and down. CNF because it is fun, it requires technique and high level of fitness.

3. Tell please few words about your freediving trainings approach: How many times a week do you train? And do you have a fixed schedule or you just wake up in the morning, look into mirror and depending on your mood, body condition or weather decide what to do today?

I like to train 3 days and rest 1. I normally plan my trains, but I think it is necessary to be flexible and adapt to body and mind conditions. I like to mix trains, firstly because I only like nice dives, don’t see any point in suffering. At all trainings I go out of my comfort zone. Trainings are efficient, not more than 6 dives, but they should all count.

4. And how often do you try something new in your freediving trainings?

I do try new things when i feel that they have a meaning. There is a hell amount of bullshit around in internet, everybody knows how to teach equalization and there are many confusing information. We should use information which can be used at our level of freediving. I don’t understand why people who can’t get comfortable to 45 meters are taught mouthful technique. For example I taught myself hands free to be able to understand what my students felt at depths.

5. The next question – what makes you day after day to go to train in a pool/sea? What motivates you to train hard? How do you fight humans’ laziness?

I would never train in pool =) , but going to train in the ocean is easy. I built my school and platform so I could train. I think it is very easy not to be lazy when you have a passion for the sport you practice.

6. Do you believe that some food products could influence the ability to equalize? Like gluten or lactose for example create more mucus which is not good for equalizing? Do you personally follow any diet?

I’m very blessed for equalization. I’ve never had problems with it, so lactose and other products don’t really affect me. I just eat what anybody would consider as a healthy diet. I consider that tobacco and alcohol are the most harmful. I avoid any kind of sugar and life on Bali doesn’t include a lot of dairy in diet.

7. Let’s talk about money. Do you have any support from sports community of your country or may be some trade brand?

HAHAHAHAHA! I’m Argentinian, if its not football….! I have always supported myself for freediving , I am sponsored with wet suits by Elios.

8. What about your targets in freediving? What would you like to achieve and how deep would you like to get?

I would like to go as deep as I can, no need to fix limits. I believe that only with practice I will get very deep. I am not in a rush and I do it for myself so I don’t like to talk about my PBs.

9. What do you do except freediving? Do you have any hobbies?

Yes, I like many other sports and I work out every day, non related to freediving exercises. Living on Bali I would love to take more time to learn proper surfing. I also practice SUP.

10. What would you advise to people, who just discovered this sport?

To take time to get to love it. To focus on relaxation , rather than numbers. To use what they learn to see marine life and promote awareness of the marine environment.

1. Do you remember how and when did you find out about freediving? What made you to start freediving? What were your 1st steps in this sport?

From my childhood I was very curious about the ocean and non traditional sports and hobbies. I kept very close to the ocean doing bodyboarding-surf, observing, reading some books and watching TV documentaries. I think the first time I heard about freediving was when I watched Big Blue film, then my curiosity and interest increased more, a few years after a classmate in the University invited to me to join him to one pool training session in the Underwater Activities Club (UCV, Caracas 1996). I get hooked with that feeling of going deeper and longer every time I tried. Then I started train regularly freediving & spearfishing. I have been holding my breath with passion from that first pool freediving experience in 1996.

2. What is your favorite discipline in freediving and which one you don’t like? And could you explain why?

Constant weight & free immersion were my favorite ones in my first years, but in the last 3 years I have been enjoying and focus on CNF. I don´t like STA because it is boring as my best was 7.35 min in 2004. But I prefer the movement. I don’t like anymore the NLT, because it is totally assisted and too dangerous (I had a big accident in Egypt, 2006).

3. Tell please few words about your freediving trainings approach: How many times a week do you train? And do you have a fixed schedule or you just wake up in the morning, look into mirror and depending on your mood, body condition or weather decide what to do today?

In the last 3 years me and my wife Gaby have been living in Bonaire, where we founded and lead our Freediving school & training center DEEPSEA (www.deepseabonaire.com). I’m in the sea almost every day, mostly teaching. I organize my yearly schedule to have more training time 2-3 months before our annual event (Deepsea Challenge Sept 15-23th). My training plan increases the intensity 8 weeks before the Competition (3-4 sessions by week: pool, depth and gym), the rest of the year I train 2-3 times in the gym, pool or with my students. occasionally. Normally every session take around 60-90minutes.

4. And how often do you try something new in your freediving trainings?

It depends, if some new idea come to me or if I think a technique looks interesting I try it. It could happen 3 times by year or none.

5. The next question – what makes you day after day to go to train in a pool/sea? What motivates you to train hard? How do you fight humans’ laziness?

Interesting question! I had more than 20 years practicing freediving in a regular way. I renew my motivation every week, every month and every year! My motivation consists of having new targets to chase every year. I renew my objectives every year and after every competition or season I start to visualize them and work for it. Of course, the passion that I felt to train every day & week in my first years practicing freediving is not so powerful now 20 years later!, but with my 41 years old I keep training regulary improving myself!, I have now more diverse objectives, like developing my school, logistics, other disciplines like CNF and more. I enjoy that, It keeps me happy.

6. Do you believe that some food products could influence the ability to equalize? Like gluten or lactose for example create more mucus which is not good for equalizing? Do you personally follow any diet?

I think that freediving diet & equalization are very personal, and there isn´t the only one answer or formula for all freedivers. I think everyone has to test, and find which food is better to avoid. I don´t have a specific diet, but I can say that I´m 80% vegy, and I try to eat colorful and healthy.

7. Let’s talk about money. Do you have any support from sports community of your country or may be some trade brand?

The last 4 years it has been very hard for me to train like competitive athlete, mostly because the big crisis in my country. Me and my wife moved to Bonaire to start from zero our life in a safe place. During my career in the past I had private sponsorships and government support. Since about 8 years ago it has been almost impossible. In the last 4 years with the crisis and because of political reasons all support in Venezuela was destroyed.

I had an international watch brand Oris supporting my career for 9 years. They launched four watches limited edition with my name. But they changed marketing strategy last year and don’t support me directly anymore.

Our school has increased step by step. We are recovering working hard with our freediving school, but it implies that I have to teach every day, because we need to pay the bills. Now it is so difficult, not enough time and resources to keep me as an elite international competitive athlete.

My wife has found some local support to develop our annual international competition on Bonaire Island Deepsea Challenge. At the moment, we are looking for sponsors for 2017 competitions, we are open to new proposals and brands.

8. What about your targets in freediving? What would you like to achieve and how deep would you like to get?

I have already achieved 12 World Records, many Continental and National Records during my career

I have been focused in CNF discipline for the last 3 years, getting South American Records and improving my performance every year, my last one and current SA Record is 69m. Now, I´m training to improve that performance.

As well I´d like to set new World Record in the caves (DYN) again. And I have another special project like books, TV serial, and more.

9. What do you do except freediving? Do you have any hobbies?

I like to travel with my wife, we love photography, I like to read and watch good movies.

10. What would you advise to people, who just discovered this sport?

I think, the best advice that I can give is: “take a good course to learn the basics, and invest some time & money in travelling around the world exploring cool freediving spots with a camera”.

1. Do you remember how and when did you find out about freediving? What made you to start freediving? What were your 1st steps in this sport?

I believe the very first time I found out about freediving was through a documentary that was hosted by Tanya Streeter. At the time I was very young and not in the position to go out and find a course at my own leisure, though I remember thinking that this must one of those very unique activities only reserved for a special few people.

I later stumbled across “Freedive Gili” while I was searching for a Yoga classes, at the time I was in New Zealand and I’d broken both my wrists, I decided to book flights to Indonesia once my wrists had healed, plus I also needed things to look forward to and this happened to be one of them. The course took place around April 2012 and originally this was meant to be a single course and afterwards I’d planned on surfing around Lombok and Sumatra, I ended up surfing a bit of Lombok but after only 2 weeks I returned back to the school and since then I haven’t looked back. I completed SSI level 2, 3 and a period of personal diving and assisting. Eventually I completed my Instructor course there and was lucky enough to be offered a job, so there I remained for roughly a year and a half.

2. What is your favourite discipline in freediving and which one you don’t like? And could you explain why?

My favorite discipline in frediving has to be CNF. It is also without a doubt the most rewarding for me as the sense of accomplishment I feel after a deep no fins dive is incomparable compared to the other disciplines. It’s down to the simple fact that we are achieving great depths by simple using our arms and legs, William Trubridge puts it best when refers to no fins “as a true measure of humans aqua potential”. I also love the feeling that if gives me when I’m moving through the water.

I wouldn’t say I had a discipline that I didn’t like as they’re all great in their own manner. I personally don’t enjoy pool disciplines not nearly as much as depth but that’s normal considering that I began freediving with depth and that predominantly that’s what I do. I can see myself in the near future participating more with pool and I’m sure that I’ll find aspects that I really enjoy once I have more experience.

3. Tell please few words about your freediving trainings approach: How many times a week do you train? And do you have a fixed schedule or you just wake up in the morning, look into mirror and depending on your mood, body condition or weather decide what to do today?

My training approach or frequency of training would completely depend on what stage of the training that I’m in. Gone are the days where freedivers believe that only depth diving will give you greater depth, this and the fact that not everyone has easy access to depth, so this leads us to adopt cross training plans and stages in our training. I would have quite a fixed plan about what I train each day and the amount, I work by micro cycle’s of 3 days on 1 day off. This may change closer to a peak or competition once I start diving max depths. I also like to maintain a certain amount of flexibility in order to slightly tailor what I’m training in tune with what I feel that I need to work on the most.

4. And how often do you try something new in your freediving trainings?

At the beginning it would seem that I’d be trying something new each session, but as my training became more refined I found that less and less changes were present. Now when I begin a training stint I usually have one or two aspects which I’d like to improve on or incorporate so that I’m not drastically changing what I do but at the same time not letting my freediving become stagnant, which is very important.

5. The next question – what makes you day after day to go to train in a pool/sea? What motivates you to train hard? How do you fight humans’ laziness?

That’s quite simple, I enjoy my training. I enjoy the feeling that little by little I’m improving and conditioning my body to perform how I would like myself to perform. It gives me pleasure to see small increments of change which collect over time and result in a big improvement. I also try and focus on the session at hand, not about the sessions that are coming or the sessions that have been, only what’s happening that day. It’s harder than it sounds as we all like to dream, but what matters most is what we’re doing in the present.

6. Do you believe that some food products could influence the ability to equalize? Like gluten or lactose for example create more mucus which is not good for equalizing? Do you personally follow any diet?

I think this is circumstantial to the individual. Some people can eat dairy until the cows come home and they wouldn’t see a problem with equalising, however this isn’t the case for everyone. Personally I can afford to eat a little dairy here and there but I avoid it for reasons other than equalising. I’d personally find that when I drink even a little bit of alcohol it congests me more than any kind of food. I wouldn’t say I followed a strict diet, however I would try and eat as much alkaline forming foods to counter the acidity that occurs in our body from freediving and training hard.

7. Let’s talk about money Do you have any support from sports community of your country or may be some trade brand?

Money is definitely an issue for most freedivers and I’m certainly no exception. I try to make enough money to fund my training through instructing, although this is always a balancing act due to the fact that it’s very difficult to train and teach at the same time. So I only ever allow myself to take the minimum amount of time out of my training for instructing. I’ve recently been lucky enough to find a regular sponsor from a former student of mine Bentinho Massaro who has generously decided to offer me a regular income to supplement my training and way of life. He has just started a free spiritual academy online called trifinity academy, check it out via this linkhttps://www.trinfinityacademy.com, it’s well worth a look.

8. What about your targets in freediving? What would you like to achieve and how deep would you like to get?

I try not to have a specific target in mind as I find that this is limiting in a way, if I did have a target I wouldn’t really discuss it with anyone as this also creates a sense of reward for something that I haven’t already achieved. If I had to say what I’d like to achieve it would be to continue with the progress that I’ve seen in myself while continuing to enjoy what I do with the same enthusiasm.

9. What do you do except freediving? Do you have any hobbies?

Before Freediving I was quite an avid surfer, I still like to get a surf trip in here and there but it’s become a little sparse since I’ve decided to dedicate more time to training. I also enjoy snowboarding and I’m keen to hopefully get back on the slopes again maybe next winter. I’ve been practicing yoga a little longer than freediving and I’d say that I love it just as much.

10. What would you advise to people, who just discovered this sport?

To enjoy the learning process as much as possible and not to try and progress to fast, it’s easier said than done and I’m the first to admit that I was guilty of that. If I had another opportunity to begin again I’m sure I’d take it a little slower, try and learn as much as possible before making rash judgments. But most of all enjoy!

1. Do you remember how and when did you find out about freediving? What made you to start freediving? What were your 1st steps in this sport?

While visiting Koh Tao for the party scene I watched video on the screen of a freedive shop about a guy holding breath underwater. Later I found out it was the famous “weightless emotional freediving” clip on youtube. I kept freediving in my list for a couple of years until went snorkeling in Maui, saw magical things, and decided to take a step forward.

2. What is your favourite discipline in freediving and which one you don’t like? And could you explain why?

I haven’t really done anything besides free immersion and constant weight. I do prefer the former as it’s easy on contraction. I haven’t got a chance to work in pool, but I can’t imagine I would love them much.

3. Tell please few words about your freediving trainings approach: How many times a week do you train? And do you have a fixed schedule or you just wake up in the morning, look into mirror and depending on your mood, body condition or weather decide what to do today?

I think consistency is the key. On Koh Tao I had been diving for 5 weeks almost every day, went to Bali for two months doing the same, depth then came easy. It would take me a lot longer if I could only do it on weekends or holidays. Same thing applies to stretching exercises, like dry packing or reverse packing. I think one has to do them consistently for months to see noticeable changes. Same for breath holding, I heard it should be practiced in long sessions, quite frequent to see improvement.

4. And how often do you try something new in your freediving trainings?

Nobody has figured freediving all out. We only have some ideas of how human can dive. Scientists were too busy going to Mars, trying to understand DNA, making bombs and whatnot. Not many have worked over freediving issues. So we, as freedivers, are the first frontiers volunteering to tackle the mystery by experimenting with our bodies and minds. So yes, I like to question everything I hear and test it on myself before accept or cross it out. Because more often than not, what works for one does not work for others.

5. The next question – what makes you day after day to go to train in a pool/sea? What motivates you to train hard? How do you fight humans’ laziness?

I don’t think about it as about training. In fact, I even don’t like this word. Freediving motivates me to travel, and in turn, traveling motivates me to freediving.

6. Do you believe that some food products could influence the ability to equalize? Like gluten or lactose for example create more mucus which is not good for equalizing? Do you personally follow any diet?

It might had happened to some people, otherwise we would have never heard about it. If you find yourself allergic to something, it’s interesting to go through some experiments like how much it takes, how long it will last or what about keep consuming them for a couple years to see if your immunity improves. For diet, I loosely follow the guideline of hippie and yogi communities. You know, a lot of veggies and fruits. Drink a lot of water, kombucha, kefir. Avoid artificial substances, fried stuff, preservatives, gmo, pretty much everything what Americans love. But when I dive I eat a lot before and after session. As far as I mentioned, if I eat light for a max dive, or long hard session, it’s likely that I will go into LMC or feel it coming.

7. Let’s talk about money 🙂 Do you have any support from sports community of your country or may be some trade brand?

I wish. Freediving is not expensive by definition. I try to live cheap and dive cheap.

8. What about your targets in freediving? What would you like to achieve and how deep would you like to get?

I don’t have some measurable goals like that. I just hope to be able to do it as long as I could. Although it will be nice to tap into some ocean expeditions. I saw swimming with wild aquatic creatures only on the Discovery channel.

9. What do you do except freediving? Do you have any hobbies?

I have participated in many activities in the past. Now I have to cut them down to freediving and whitewater/ocean wave playboating which get along really well while traveling.

10. What would you advise to people, who just discovered this sport?

Just like any other skills, be patient and a little dedicated, keep it fun.

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1. Do you remember how and when did you find out about freediving? What made you to start freediving? What were your 1st steps in this sport?

I started my Freediving journey in 2009 as a spearo in the Caribbean Island of Jamaica, where I discovered the beauty of underwater world.

After a couple of years or so I decided that’s is about time to improve my abilities so I signed up to take a Freediving Course.

I remember my surprise, when I realised I didn’t know anything about the sport, I had wasted 2 years hesitating about taking the course.

I then decided to enter into the pure discipline of Freediving, and with each year I started Freediving more than Spear fishing until the point where I was just Freediving and training on a daily basis.

Freediving changed my life, it give me the right input to discover and enjoy my life in a whole new way, experiencing many amazing things and learning new and valuable techniques.

2. What is your favourite discipline in freediving and which one you don’t like? And could you explain why?

I have to say that static is my favourite discipline, despite it being one of the most difficult disciplines to master, especially mentally.

It has its beauty even though most of freedivers hate it, I enjoy the challenge it brings, even after the worst static with massive, unpleasant contractions, when you take your first breath again ,that’s a moment of joy and satisfaction. Then my motivation is renewed.

Nowadays I mainly concentrate on static to discover my true potential and with bit of help and a lot of training I may just achieve my goal.

The discipline I like the least is CNF and that is probably because I never really train for it, living in the UK makes depth training difficult as there are only a few places to train and the distance you have to travel to train makes it challenging.

3. Tell please few words about your freediving trainings approach: How many times a week do you train? And do you have a fixed schedule or you just wake up in the morning, look into mirror and depending on your mood, body condition or weather decide what to do today?

Our training is usually scheduled around work, my 9-5 job is in the construction industry as a supervisor. Being a father of my children Tiger and Jade and running our family business Blue Water Freediving School where we train and teach our students.

Training could be difficult sometimes, at times we have to adapt it to suit the life style we are currently living. If training is forced it can become unpleasant and we are unable to train in that way in the long term, to keep it positive it is crucial to find the right balance to fit your training into your daily life.

The Static discipline is very stressful to the body and it has to be trained with the right approach, to eliminate overtraining I train between 5 to 6 days a week depending on the time of my training cycle.

All my training plans are usually set according to events I plan on competing in. I train in advance to participate.

Being a father I’ve learnt that you can adapt to train in all conditions and that could be during your lunch break at work or between cooking a dinner and relaxing with your family.

4. And how often do you try something new in your freediving trainings?

Every year I like to add something new to my training, to satisfy my curiosity and learn new techniques or just try a new approach to training.

What works for you may not work for others, that’s why it is very important to try different techniques and discover what works for you and your body.

This year I’m trying a couple of new exercises and I hope I will see positive results in the next few months.

5. The next question – what makes you day after day to go to train in a pool/sea? What motivates you to train hard? How do you fight humans’ laziness?

Good question, motivation is sometimes hard to find along with that positive attitude towards your training.

A positive attitude is super important otherwise you come to a point where you hate the sport and it will become a punishment instead of positive experience.

I try to gain my motivation from all the angles. Success is great and brings in good vibes but failure could be an even stronger motivational tool for the mind. The constant quest of discovering your mind and body’s potential is what keeps me going, that and of course with support of my kids ,my partner Shirley and family make it all a complete unit.

6. Do you believe that some food products could influence the ability to equalize? Like gluten or lactose for example create more mucus which is not good for equalizing? Do you personally follow any diet?

In the last few years I have been looking into role of my diet, I became a dietician to gain more knowledge of the subject, I have to say that this is something that has changed my approach in training. In my opinion, it is super important and plays a huge role in performance, from equalisations to contractions and general body functions.

To expect the maximum from the body we need to fill it up with right fuel to gain maximum performance.

On my performance day or training sessions, I would eat specific foods at particular times before training and that could make the difference in when the contractions begin.

Our bodies react differently to the food we eat and yes you could make your dive harder by consuming certain products as dairy or gluten, which will produce more mucus and in turn make a equalisation more difficult and challenging.

But we have to understand that all the good food is only a part of complete circle 🙂

7. Let’s talk about money 🙂 Do you have any support from sports community of your country or may be some trade brand?

Well to simplify it, most Freedivers are self funded, even when competing for your Country. We have no sponsorship or support to help cover the costs of training.

Freediving is still a young sport and in the eyes of public is relatively small that makes it more difficult to find sponsors to fund your daily training or events.

I’m lucky enough to have contacts with the manufacturers of high quality freediving equipment, Molchanoves and Elioswho’s equipment I use to train .

8. What about your targets in freediving? What would you like to achieve and how deep would you like to get?

I have my own little goals that I would like to achieve this year, I’d like to dedicate my training purely to static to see my full potential.

Depth that is another challenge. I’m still working on mastering my equalisation and if I have a bit of spare time this year, I’d like to see if I can train further on equalisation.

9. What do you do except freediving? Do you have any hobbies?

Freediving is a big part of our Family life, both me and my partner Shirley train when we can, that’s means a whole family trip with the kids to the lake where we can do a small training session ,or we just train in our home. Some of the things we do from home is our stretching session, body weight training and dry breath-hold training.

Freediving makes our life and our body’s healthier and happier.

As a family we love camping ,fossil hunting ,mushroom picking, or just casual trip to the beach when we can just let it all go and relax.

10. What would you advise to people, who just discovered this sport?

Buckle up as Freediving will give you tons of fun, friends and adventures.

Remember Never Dive Alone ,train hard but be smart ,enjoy the moment ,and most importantly have fun.

The right attitude will take you further and deeper than you think!

Dive Safe;)

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